The BBC’s radio program Business Daily (its a great podcast) recently ran a story on the move by Lords Cricket Ground back in 2005 to cancel its catering contract and take catering in-house (or in-ground as the case may be) to ‘protect the brand’. To me, it’s probably one of the most telling accounts of how to change a product/service strategy to stay true to a brand’s ‘values’ and to its ‘promise’.
Obviously, to the world’s cricketing fraternity, and those beyond, Lords is much more that just another place to play cricket, it’s the spiritual home of cricket. Even to parochial cricket mad Australians, Lords is the cornerstone in the history of cricket itself.
So it’s not surprising that Lords recognised the limited supply options provided by the multinational catering contractors was cutting against the grain of what the Lords brand was about and damaging public perception. So, they moved away from outsourced catering to ‘cooking from fresh, onsite’, which clearly fits with what we’d all expect from the spiritual home of cricket –“scones made and cream whipped onsite? Yes please".
The Lords board decided to cancel its contract with French multinational caterer Sodexho and take catering in-house, allowing it to source its own ingredients, bring in local food businesses and source its own chefs to man the onsite kitchens.
With the benefit of 20/20 hindsight, and evidenced by the fact that the ground’s Food and Beverage (F&B) income has grown from £4.7 million to a whopping £11 million, the decision smacks of a masterstroke in reinforcing a profitable brand position in the face of the many naysayers who said it wouldn’t work.
There is no doubt the decision was a brave one, with F&B income reported to add up to almost 50% of an event’s income, the move to taking responsibility of ingredient logistics, staffing and management of the reported 78-100 chefs onsite daily, was undoubtedly a risk. But, clearly, far less a risk than letting the service of bland food, soggy chips and ‘cookie cutter’ hospitality deteriorate the Lords brand experience.
Mind you, as an Aussie, I dare say that even with the tastiest morsel in hand, there was probably very little my countrymen could stomach during this recent Ashes series.
The Lord experience provides an important reminder that service brands of all descriptions need to differentiate in ways that are valuable to their customers, reflect the values inherent in what the brand stands for, and stay true to the brand’s promise.
As a lover of cricket, there’s nothing more ‘on brand’ than a scone with jam and cream lovingly ‘home made’ by a dedicated chef somewhere behind row 15…sounds exactly like the home of cricket to me.
The proof, as they say, is in the pudding.
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